Napping Is a Ready-Made Solution

William A. Anthony, the director of the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University, is the author of "The Art of Napping" and "The Art of Napping at Work."

Updated September 3, 2010, 4:53 PM

To my napping colleagues, napping is the no cost, no sweat way to physical and emotional health. Unfortunately for us nappers, America is still a nappist society, where napping is discriminated against. If you are “caught napping” at work, even though there is no crime to catch, you may lose your reputation, or your job, or both.

Americans are not 'sleep deprived,' they are simply 'nap-ready.'

Yet sleep researchers (whom I call no-nap-apologists) are at the nappers’ bedside. They report that napping has a positive effect on both mood and performance. It is one of those rare instances where scientists have discovered that something I like is actually good for me!

Most Americans are sleep deprived. The groups who nap most frequently are college students, toddlers and seniors. The common denominator in these three groups is that they are most apt to have the opportunity. College students, in particular, have turned napping into an art form.

I define napping as a short sleep taken by toddlers, leaders and geniuses. Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Johannes Brahms, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein all napped. So have many American presidents: Bill Clinton, Calvin Coolidge, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

I have surveyed more than 1,000 people about napping. They state that, compared to other healthy activities, there are even more advantages to napping than what the scientists describe. Napping is a natural medicine; you don’t need special equipment or clothing to nap; there is no need to shower after napping; it doesn’t hurt your joints; no drugs are needed.

Napping recasts what some may view as a problem -- that is American’s sleep deprivation -- into a ready-made solution. Americans are not “sleep deprived,” they are simply “nap-ready.” Now more than ever is the time for proud American nappers to lie down and be counted.